In a curious turn of events, former President Donald Trump said Thursday he doesn’t like the term “woke” anymore. His remarks may have been a swipe at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but in the process he gave away exactly why so many on the MAGA right — including him — constantly use the term.
Trump’s surprising comment came as an aside during a rambling set of transphobic remarks at the Westside Conservative Breakfast in Urbandale, Iowa, during which he referred to trans identity as “sick” and deliberately misgendered people. He then detoured into why he is wary of using the word “woke.”
It was also one of those rare moments in which Trump said something true.
“It’s gotten sick, and I don’t like the term woke, because I hear woke, woke, woke. You know it’s like just a term they use half the people can’t even define it. They don’t know what it is,” Trump said.
It’s not exactly clear who was he referring to when he said “they,” but it’s likely he meant people on the right who use the term to discredit or fearmonger about any policy vaguely associated with the principle of social equality or inclusiveness. It could even be a jab at DeSantis, who has made opposing “wokeness” one of the animating principles of his presidential campaign.
It was also one of those rare moments in which Trump said something true, and maybe even slightly introspective. The term “woke” dates back to at least the early 20th century, and was originally used by people who positively affiliated with the term as a shorthand for awareness of social injustice and bigotry. But in recent years, the right has appropriated the term and rendered it unintelligible. First, right-wing users of “woke” used it to discredit any attempt at social inclusion as extremist ideology. Over time it evolved into a catch-all culprit for anything that conservatives view as a social problem. The right has blamed “wokeness” for everything from the collapse of banks to
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